The present invention relates generally to telephone-based services. The present invention relates more particularly to activating pre-paid telephone-based services via a point-of-sale device.
Telephone-based services have become ubiquitous in present society. One merely need watch a few minutes of late night television before being confronted with an advertisement for some type of telephone service, many of which such services are delivered by a telephone response unit (TRU), either interactive, automated, or live agent. Such services typically cost money.
Paying for telephone-based services can be difficult. Typically, a customer must provide a credit card each time he accesses such a system. This is often time consuming. Moreover, some individuals are uncomfortable providing such information over the phone. Further still, the merchant discount rate (interchange) charged to the merchant of the service is significantly higher for a “card not present” transaction over the telephone that if the credit card is present to purchase the service at a point-of-sale (POS). Thus, systems and methods are needed for simplifying the process of accessing telephone-based services.